Lentil Salad with Roasted Vegetables

Ahh, 3 days of cooking. I had some hits, a couple misses, and am still working on my entry for the recipe contest. You guys gave me some good ideas in the comments, but I am keeping things hush hush for now. You know, I need to watch out for those Internet spies….

This original recipe had over 20 ingredients, and 5 paragraphs of directions. Now some final dishes warrant this kind of effort, but I think beets and lentils should be much lower maintenance. So I modified this recipe significantly, and it’s much more of the ‘peasant’ dish now. In fact, you should not even bother to roast vegetables specifically for this dish, but take advantage of some that you might have leftover.

I served the lentil salad over some torn Romaine lettuce, and it was a very nice lunch. The flavor was earthy, but in a good way. Note that the lentils I used here are not the standard grocery store kind, but the French variety I bought at Whole Foods. I used them before to make a different lentil salad. They hold their shape much better in salads such as these. If all of this seems too daunting, just remember the simplest formula: roasted veggies + beans + oil + vinegar = good.

4-5 beets, any dark spots removed
6 carrots, peeled and sliced into 1″ pieces
1 t sugar
1 T olive oil
3/4 c. black lentils
3 c. water
1 bay leaf
1 t minced garlic
1 small onion
2 T olive oil
1 T balsamic vinegar
1 T lemon juice

Set beets in a baking dish. Mix carrots, sugar, and olive oil in another baking dish. Roast vegetables at 400F. The carrots will take about 30 minutes, and the beets should be fork tender in 60-90 minutes. Allow beets to cool, and then remove skin and slice into 1″ pieces.

Meanwhile, place lentils, water, bay leaf, garlic, and onion in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil, and then simmer for 30 minutes, or until lentils are softened. Drain, and remove onion and bay leaf.

Mix lentils, beets, and carrots in a large bowl. Add oil, vinegar, and lemon juice. Toss to coat, and season with salt and pepper.

Recipe Contest!

So I just heard about a really cool recipe contest being run by the Somerville Winter Farmer’s Market. This hasn’t been my best week of cooking, but I have a 3 day weekend ahead of me with some free time to experiment with new recipes. There are many vendors at the market, selling fruit, vegetables, bread, cheese, meat, seafood, wine, and chocolate. The goal is to use the market ingredients creatively. That’s a lot of good stuff to work with! Any ideas? Tell me in the comments, and I’ll be back Tuesday to report some preliminary results. Contest entries are due February 28, so I don’t have much time.

If you’re looking to cook something to celebrate the holiday, I would suggest cherry pie. That’s what my grandmother always made for President’s Day, lattice crust and all. Have a great weekend!

Image Courtesy AllRecipes.com

Chocolate Chia Pudding

Way back in November of last year, I got a large supply of chia seeds as a gift. Yes, they’re the same chia seeds you used years ago to make a plant pet, but now they’re food, and healthy food at that. See my friend Elizabeth’s post here which explains more.

I’ve used a spoonful of seeds here and there, mostly in my oats. But this semester, I am taking Food Science, and learning all about the properties of various foods. Chia seeds have this amazing ability to gel when mixed with water or another liquid. So I decided to play around this week and make chia chocolate pudding. There’s a ton of recipes floating around the Internet, and I just followed the basic ratios.

I admit, I really wanted to love this pudding. It’s chocolate pudding, right? But I am always honest with you guys, and the gritty texture really bothered me. Plus, I had to add what seemed like a lot of sugar to make this palatable. I’ll stick to other starches for pudding, and find more recipes to use the chia.

2 T chia seeds

1 T unsweetened cocoa powder

1/2 c. milk

Pinch sugar or sugar alternative

Mix all ingredients, and allow to sit in the refrigerator for at least one hour. Stir well, add more sweetener if needed, and enjoy.

Root Vegetable Chili

I was in the mood for chili this week, and spotted this recipe for Root Vegetable Chili. I am always ready to throw different vegetables in my chili, and this version uses winter produce. Plus, consistent with my cooking club theme of ‘spices’, this chili uses quite a few. I even used my new chili powder from Penzeys!

I really liked the butternut squash and parsnips in the chili, but the chickpeas seemed out of place. Black beans or kidney beans would have been much better. Still, this is a good chili recipe to get you through the winter season if you’re trying to eat locally. That early spring produce should be just around the corner!

Roasted Garlic Naan, Take 2

I made naan for the first time last month, and I wanted to try it again with roasted garlic butter. I used the same recipe, which calls for just yeast, flour, sugar, and water. For the roasted garlic butter, I cheated and just mixed in some Garlic Gold.

Last time, the naan had a fluffy and soft texture, but tasted very plain. This time, the garlic butter helped to offer more flavor, but the naan was tough and chewy. I still have a lot to learn about making bread, but here’s hoping the third time will be a charm for this recipe!

Butter Chicken

Our cooking club’s “Spices” dinner was a great success! We started with an appetizer of chickpeas and spinach with smoked paprika, and then moved on to Kicked-Up Macaroni and Cheese and Butter Chicken. We finished the night with Orange Cardamom Cake and cups of tea.

This butter chicken features coriander, cumin, cardamom, and cayenne pepper. In fact, the chicken marinates in the spices and lime juice overnight, which is a big help when you are hosting dinner. The next day, I sauteed some onions in butter and cooked the chicken with tomatoes and tomato sauce. I followed the recipe, except that I forgot to add the cream before serving. I can’t believe I did that, I guess I was distracted by all the other great food.

The final dish was good though, and I would make it again, and perhaps increase the spices next time. It was fairly mild, even for me. Oh, and next time I’ll make basmati rice as suggested too. But on this night I made some naan – more on that tomorrow!

In Celebration of Chocolate

I am not going to do a Valentine’s Day recipe roundup, although those are certainly trendy in the blog world. But I will mention a few of my very favorite chocolate recipes, just in case you’re looking to celebrate your love for chocolate sometime soon.

You might try these molten lava cakes, which are nothing short of amazing. Or, you could make these chocolate ricotta rolls, a spin on traditional cannoli. Keeping with the Italian theme, how about some tiramisu? You don’t need to buy truffles when you can make your very own. And if that leaves you wanting more, try this Death by Chocolate dessert. No matter what you pick, it’s the love you put into making the recipe that really counts.

Starbucks Oatmeal

This semester, I am eating breakfast on the go almost every morning at my job, at my internship site, or at school before class. I’ve even eaten breakfast on the T! My staples are Overnight Oats, peanut butter and banana sandwiches, and yogurt parfaits. Much to my delight, Starbucks sent me a coupon to try their oatmeal. A free, hot breakfast? Sounds great!

The oatmeal itself is plain, made with water. But the barista told me he’d give me “the works” which includes a packet of mixed nuts, a packet of dried fruit, and a packet of brown sugar.

I used all of the dried fruit, about half the nuts, and a sprinkle of brown sugar. The texture was different than stove top, but this was still a pretty good bowl of oats. With these nutritional stats, this is a convenient and healthy whole grain breakfast. Of course, I’d prefer fresh fruit over dried, but Starbucks does sell bananas, so that is an option.

And of course, you can easily get a dairy serving with a beverage. Check out this post for great tips on how to customize a drink to meet your needs.

Red Wine Minestrone

Minestrone is actually one of my very favorite soups, with vegetables, beans, and pasta all in one bowl. I’ve posted a Fall Minestrone which includes butternut squash, and a White Bean and Escarole soup which reminds me of minestrone.

But this soup is the real deal with onions, carrots, celery, zucchini, tomatoes, kidney beans, lima beans, cabbage, small elbows, and yes, red wine. It’s also a crockpot recipe, so you can get your soup going and go on with your day. When your homework/errands/house chores are done, you can pour yourself a glass of wine and enjoy a great bowl of soup. This is another recipe that makes many servings, and 3 containers went immediately to my freezer. I loved this soup though, and know that I’ll be happy to defrost them in the coming weeks.

Garlic Gold Hummus

I also brought hummus and veggies to the Superbowl party, but originally I wasn’t going to blog about it. I make my own hummus all the time, and tweak it according to what I have on hand. But a few people asked about making hummus, and this is my current recipe, based on my new found love of Garlic Gold.

1 (15 oz.) can chickpeas, rinsed and drained
1 t Garlic Gold toasted garlic bits
2 t Garlic Gold oil
2 T lemon juice

Blend ingredients in a food processor. Add more lemon juice if too dry. Serve with vegetables or pita.